Ballarat is set to host a Aussie music masterclass in March, as the Red Hot Summer Tour returns with the 'holy grail' of all line ups.
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For the tenth anniversary of the tour, bands Hunters & Collectors, Killing Heidi and The Angels will be gracing the leafy surrounds of North Gardens.
For the one-night-only event on March 28 next year, punters can also see returning rock favourites The Living End, Australian Crawl frontman James Reyne, Baby Animals and the Boom Crash Opera.
Killing Heidi's front woman Ella Hooper told The Courier visiting places like Ballarat provided that "variety" performers crave. The band, which was formed in 1996 when Hooper was only 13, became synonymous in Australia with the grungy aesthetic of the late 90s.
Having grown up in Violet Town, a small north-eastern Victorian town with a population only just pushing 1500, Hooper said bringing big Australian acts to outlying areas was something she believes strongly in.
"It's incredibly important for the cultural health of a regional community, and also just the morale of a regional community," she said. "Because special treats happen less often, it's great to dot the landscape with exciting events."
Killing Heidi's hits Weir and Mascara became anthems for a whole (now slightly older) generation of teenagers, and according to Hooper, nostalgia for the time means many current 16-year-olds have discovered their music and are turning up in the audience.
"It's great to be on this bill with so many legends, but it's 10 or 20 years before we thought we would," she said.
"Everything in Killing Heidi happens in its own, strange timeline."
While she admits Killing Heidi's high energy stage presence just used to happen through the "magic" of youth, Hooper says she's now got to pay a bit more attention to staying limber.
"There's days there's a big more intention behind the acrobatics and the stage ... so I do a little bit of yoga, a little bit of gym," she said.
"But I'm not a health bunny by any stretch, I'm in a rock band, after all!"
Promoter Duane McDonald said in a media release that the support the concert series has received for the past 10 years has been "phenomenal".
Tickets on sale online from 9am on August 8, more details at www.redhotsummertour.com.au/
